1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hard disk mounting structure and more particularly, to a ATCA board compatible hard disk mounting structure, which fits one PMC slot of the ATCA (advanced TCA) board, isolate the hard disk from hot air in the machine case, enhances circulation of air to dissipate heat from the hard disk efficiently, and provides regular grounding and digital grounding effects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, many enterprises install relatively cheaper mini servers to satisfy network traffic requirements. In order to improve further economic effect, blade servers are developed. A blade server is a thin, modular electronic board, containing at least one microprocessor and memory, which is intended for a single, dedicated application and that can be easily inserted into a rack with many similar servers.
A blade server machine case can accommodate several tends of blade servers or more, and blade server is equivalent to a regular server. These blade servers share the same resources such as server machine case, display, keyboard and power supply unit, achieving easy connection to the big scale data center. Further, the server machine case has installed therein an intelligent system that provides internal resource-related information. The intelligent system can discriminate webbed blade server resources, specific tasks, or application software run on the blade servers, allowing flexible application of every blade server in the server machine case. The most attractive advantage of a blade server is its high reliability and extendibility because every blade server has the backup function. The hot plugging of the server machine case that supports blade servers and system component parts provides high applicability. When one blade servers failed, another blade server can take the place without interrupting the service. When wishing to increase the handling power, it needs only to insert more blade servers and to arrange these resources at the place where the demand is most strong.
In order to satisfy the demand of next generation communication equipment and the market demand for high traffic data bandwidth, server blades follow the modular design of Compact PCI specifications. The structural design includes the definition of the server machine case, the main board, the back board, the dimensions of the rear I/O extension board, the height limitation, the connector used, the front panel, the hot plugging handle, and etc. According to this new definition, the 8U long space of the front face panel is sufficient for accommodating four standard PMC slots and four standard LED displays and can support the hot plugging function of the main board when used with a specific handle. However, a PMC module's user must accurately know the transmission mode, interconnection between V I/O and rear I/O, and the compatibility of the supported bus arbitration to the carrier board. Further, the power demand for the interface of relatively higher speed and the expansion of next generation silicon circuit requires a change of PMC's specification. These drawbacks impart a barrier to the use of PMC module. Further, a blade server defines the hard disk to be a part of digital ground. Further, when a hard disk is installed in a blade server, it is exposed to the outside and not well protected. This arrangement does not provided an environment for quick dissipation of heat from the hard disk. In a blade server architecture, the hard disk cannot be set in the most proper location to save the server case space effectively.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an ATCA board compatible hard disk mounting structure that saves and fully utilizes space, protects the hard disk against hot air produced by the dual CPU cooler module in the server machine case, and provides the hard disk with an efficient cooling environment.